SAYAKA MURATA is the author of many books, including Convenience Store Woman, winner of the Akutagawa Prize, Earthlings, and Life Ceremony. Murata has been named a Freeman's ?Future of New Writing? author and a Vogue Japan Woman of the Year.

GINNY TAPLEY TAKEMORI has translated works by more than a dozen Japanese writers, including Ryu Murakami. She lives at the foot of a mountain in Eastern Japan.